Bristol, Europe and Green ICT
“a great deal of attention was given to Bristol as a model city working on Green ICT”
Bristol shone out last week as a great example of a local authority working successfully on green ICT projects in the city at a meeting of the EPC Task Force on Green ICT.
The general discussion raised a great deal of interest in Bristol’s case.
The audience was impressed at how Bristol had actually calculated its targets and how they had managed to engage the community. Some key questions that were asked about Bristol’s work were:
- Does Bristol’s commitment to a quantified reduction in CO2 emissions, the calculation of the City Council’s emissions and the Green ICT solutions database allow an accurate public procurement?
- How does coordination takes place between national and local government policies?
- Does Bristol’s commitment to reduce CO2 emissions by 34% by 2020 include all the partners in the city and is the City Council in a position to be able to measure its progress accurately?
Also at the meeting, Arthur Mickoleit, Policy Analyst of the Information Economy Group, Directorate for Science, Technology and Industry at the OECD made a presentation:
- The OECD hosted a High-level Conference on ICTs, the Environment and Climate Change on 27-28 May 2009 in Denmark (http://www.oecd.org/document/15/0,3343,en_2649_34223_40472783_1_1_1_1,00.html).
The Working Party on the Information Economy has also produced a report on Assessing Policies and Programmes on ICT and the Environment (http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/47/12/42825130.pdf).
- Arthur presented ICT as part of both the problem and the solution of climate change. He looked at three areas of working on Green ICT in order for integrated systemic change in a city or region:
1) Technology, including green ICT procurement;
2) Application, including smart meters; and
3) Societal change, including energy production.
- The OECD is working with three cities on the topic of green ICT policies:
1) Rivas - Vaciamadrid (Spain);
2) Western Harbour in Malmo (Sweden); and
3) L’Aquila (Italy).
- In terms of policy coordination, the OECD points out the need for better grasp of the potential of innovation in ICTs, the outreach beyond the ICT policy communities, the need for initiatives between the different levels of government (EU, national, regional and local) and for ICT to be central to all green growth agendas.
If you have any thoughts on this or examples of Green ICT from your area please leave a comment below.
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